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Let’s Help Hurricane Harvey Victims!

I always have my eyes peeled for unique handmade and vintage finds (one never has too many textiles, right?!). Several years ago at a flea market I found a huge folder full of vintage Texas map prints dating back to 1822 that I romantically imagined framing for my husband’s office since he works with county government all over the Lone Star State.

Well, just like organizing my closet and kitchen Tupperware drawer, this never happened. So last week — days before learning about Hurricane Harvey — I finally dusted them off to offer up on shopfleastyle.com as part of our fall collection.

Once the devastating storm hit, we’ve been trying to think of ways to help. Houston and its surrounding areas are very close to our heart for so many reasons. The most obvious is that we have a flea market there twice a year and adore our Houston vendors. Alyssa, our director of operations, is from nearby Conroe and most of her family still lives there. Our graphic designer Grace has a brother in Houston and our e-commerce queen DeAnna has family about 45 minutes away in Galveston. All of us we have dozens of friends struck by the tragedy.

Luckily, most of them are safe and dry (we emailed all of our vendors Monday and have received uplifting reports from most). However, we have also heard tough news: I had a friend rescued by boat on Monday with her three children and four animals who are now living with friends while their home is under water. My college pal has been trapped at the hospital where she works since the weekend while her young sons are at home; Grace’s college pals lost everything when water levels surpassed their kitchen counters.

In light of all of this heart-breaking news, we decided to donate 100-percent of proceeds from our treasured Texas map collection to the American Red Cross, which is working so hard to help Houston and the surrounding affected areas. It just felt like the perfect way to do our part (several of the maps feature Houston and Gulf of Mexico). We coined it our Texas Strong collection and hope you’ll help us support this good cause and our neighbors in need.

If you’re looking for more unique ways to send Houston some love, I’ve attached these tips from our friends at TidBits, who are also based in our beloved Bayou City. We’d love to see you at our Houston fall show November 18th to further support the makers and shakers we love there so much!